A Palestinian teenager approached a crowded West Bank checkpoint wearing a suicide bomb vest Wednesday in what Israel said was a failed attempt to kill soldiers there.

Hussam Abdo, thought to be in his mid-teens, was wearing a grey explosive vest.

Israeli soldiers had been tipped to a possible attack, and they ordered the small but muscular boy to stop and lift his shirt when he approached the checkpoint.

While TV cameras rolled, an army robot transported a pair of scissors to Abdo so he could cut off the vest, while the soldiers took cover behind concrete barricades.

"Naturally this a monstrous doing of evil people, sending young children and turning them into human bombs.  Its horrid and terribly worrisome," said Maj. Sharon Feingold, an Israeli Army spokesperson.

Army sappers later detonated the vest.

Abdo's brother Hosni told The Associated Press that Hussam was gullible and easily manipulated.

Earlier this month, a 12-year-old said he was paid five shekels -- about $1.50 -- to carry a school bag full of car parts across the same checkpoint.

The Israeli army said it contained a bomb.

Hamas, the militant Islamic Palestinian group, has been promising to step up attacks on Israeli ever since Sheik Ahmed Yassin was killed by an Israeli missile on Monday.

It has been issuing mixed messages, however, with one spokesman saying the fight would be taken to the United States. But Abdel Aziz Rantisi, the new Hamas leader in Gaza, said his group's fight would be restricted to Israel.

Tanks advance

Late Wednesday, Israeli armoured vehicles were reported advancing on the city of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Attack helicopters were circling in the air, according to residents.

The same area saw an incursion by armoured vehicles and bulldozers on Tuesday.

The Israeli military said it demolished buildings that were used by Palestinian militants to fire upon Jewish settlers and soldiers.

Based on a report by CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer